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Friday, July 31, 2009

... a hammer good internet connection, I could upload photos and write an interesting blog post. This will have to do until I get back home from back to back to back to back quilt shows and hotels with sub-standard internet service.

Friday, July 24, 2009

...went to the beach! My friend and I went for pre-wedding pedicures last week. I don't think our toes showed much at the wedding, so we needed to take the piggies on a road trip.

Both of my feet actually came with me to North Hampton, NH, but the other one is out of photo range, balancing me to make sure I didn't fall down into the water and all of that. I do have some class, after all.

The bright orange piggies actually have a person attached to them. See:

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

In case I haven't mentioned it, our entire house is in turmoil. My son got married last weekend and he and his bride are moving in with us until his teaching job goes full-time. We're excited to have them here, and it was a great excuse to clean out two bedrooms, a closet, a bathroom, a dining room, and more. We've touched nearly everything that we own in the last few weeks including the first quilt I ever made:

I strip-pieced and hand-quilted this quilt when my son was in grade school.

He was a huge NY Knicks fan, hence the blue and orange and basketball quilting motif:

I loved the large white quilt blocks that would showcase my quilting:

I quilted an unbroken chain in the borders:

The basketballs (and batting) have gone flat. The chain (and quilting threads) have been broken. This quilt went everywhere with my son. It's been to Mexico a few times and even to the Ukraine.

We visited the quilt at college for Thanksgiving my son's freshman year and realized the quilt had outlived it's usefulness. The binding was in tatters and the quilt was a worn, thin, dingy mess. I rushed home to make him a replacement quilt for Christmas.

I found the same pattern, but chose Ohio State University colors and music-themed fabrics. I made sure that the four-patches met diagonally and made a secondary pattern. I quilted this one by machine:

This quilt was completed in three weeks and is not fancy, but took my son through the next 3-1/2 years of school. It's going in my his linen closet now.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

This finish is a small one. I pieced it at my quilt retreat in January but quilted it last week, just in time to give away. I actually wrapped it before taking a photo (the horror!).

My husband delivered the quilt to a cousin at a family reunion this past weekend. I was teaching classes and could not attend, but send along this hostess gift:

The quilting in the light stripes says: "forever .... in peace.... may you wave"

The hostess' home is decorated in Americana and I knew it would look perfect. I also knew that my husband's aunt (a quilter) would understand my panic call to my husband begging him to take a photo. Those would be Aunt Marilyn's rings in the photo.

Friday, July 10, 2009

My daughter and I are an interesting mix. We look exactly alike. We have many things in common. Like many daughters who are so burdened, my daughter tries to be different from me in as many ways as she can. One noticeable difference between us is.... she's not a quilter. She's not even a fan of quilts. Gasp! But I love her anyway.

I show her every quilt I make and ask if she likes it. I always get a variation of "it only matters if you like it." Imagine my surprise when I asked her if she liked a recent quilt and she replied, "Yes." She even explained why she liked it. I was bowled over with shock. And then I gave her the quilt.

Since my baby is going to college in a very cold and snowy location, this is first of several of my baby's college quilts:

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

In previous posts, I've described all the wonders that are Jennifer. She's pretty much the best hairdresser in the whole world and she's mine all mine. For about a dozen years, I've been looking for an excuse to make her a quilt. Finally, she opened a new salon and gave me the reason I've been looking for (for which I was looking?).

Here's her quilt:

The pattern is Bento Box and I love it!

My quilt holder has graduated from college and is back to his true work:

Isn't that a patient look on his face? I think he had been awake for about 3 minutes when I asked him to help with the quilt. Such a good boy!

I know I've mentioned that he's looking for a job as a music teacher, but that is no longer the case. Students in grades K-2 in a local school district will benefit from his daily attention. Now he'll be able to support the bride he's taking in less than 2 weeks!